Right Place At The Right Time

The best time to post on social media depends upon many factors. The optimal time to post is affected by the type of business you are promoting. It depends upon the specific social media site on which you are posting. It depends upon the goal of your campaign (ex: are you trying to promote brand awareness or increase sales, are you seeking clicks or shares, etc.). When you post should also take into account your target audience (when and how they interact), the geographical area you are targeting, and the style of your post (ex: is it a serious or humorous post). To get the best results, you should take all of these factors into account.

There are many statistics that average all of these factors and provide general rules regarding the best times to post. Although we will start our discussion with these general factors, we will do so with caution. Recall the old saying about averages. If you stood with one foot in a pot of boiling water and the other foot in a block of ice, the law of averages suggests you would be comfortable. We will discuss the general principles based on averages as a starting point to understand how timing matters. Do not just use these general principles without examining the specifics of your particular situation, however.

Best Times in General

The best times to post on Facebook are 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays; 3:00-4:00 p.m. on Wednesdays; and 1:00-4:00 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.

The best times to post on Twitter are 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays and 5:00-6:00 p.m. on Wednesdays.

The best times to post on Linkedin are 7:30-8:00 a.m., Noon, and 5:00-6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and also 10:00-11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays.

The best times to post on Pinterest are the evening hours of every day, plus 5:00 p.m. on Fridays and all day Saturdays.

The best times to post on Instagram are anytime Monday through Thursday, except between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m.

The best time to post on Google+ is 9:00 a.m. weekdays, with Wednesday being the best day to post. The second best time is during the lunch hour on weekdays.

Why Different Times for Different Sites

As we have observed in prior lessons, Twitter is more fast-paced than Facebook. People approach Twitter for different reasons than Facebook and use it at different times and for different purposes. As a result, a Tweet has a half-life of only 24 minutes--four times shorter than a Facebook post.